English name ~ Black and White colobus
Swahili name ~ Mbega mweupe or Kuluzu
Classification of the Black and white Colobus.
Kingdom ~ Animalia
Phylum ~ Chordata
Class ~ Mammalia
Order ~ Primates
Suborder ~ Haplorhini
Infraorder ~ Simiiformes
Family ~ Cercopithecidae
Subfamily ~ Colobinae
Genus ~ Colobus
Type species
Simia polycomos
The Weight of Males normally 22-33lb
(10-15kg), though can be up to 44lb
(20kg),The weight females 15-22lb (7-10kg)
The Length is 1ft 8in-2ft 4in (50-7Ocm),
plus tail 28-34in (70-85cm)
Gestation: 5-6 months
only 1 Young
The Lifespan is Up to 24 years in captivity
Identification
A handsome black and white monkey with a long, white, tasselled tail. Colobus differ from other monkeys in the absence of a thumb, which is reduced to a short stump (the name colobus comes from a Greek word meaning maimed or mutilated). Their pendant-like white tails were once highly prized as fly whisks, and together with their skins were used to decorate the traditional costumes of certain tribes. Skins were also made into rugs and mats. It is said that East Africa was exporting 2 million colobus skins in the late 1800s. In 1972, Curio shops in Kenya had a stock of 27,000 skins, while Ethiopia had 200,000 skins for sale.
As a result colobus were almost exterminated in parts of Africa.
Colobus are distinguished from monkeys by the absence of a which is reduced to a short.
Voice
Males mark their territories by uttering guttural, fat-reaching roars rurr, rurru, rurr' particuary at dawn and dusk.
This sound is also said as 2 contact call Family members make various soft clicks, pums and snutles when communicating ith one another. A loud nasal non is used as an alarm and signal.
Habitat
In forests from sea level up to 10,000h 3.000m³
Habits
Diurnal and gregarious, usually in family troops of up to five females accompanied by three or four young or various ages, and a dominant male who has exciusive breeding nights with the females. In some instances there may be more than one male, by these are subordinate to the dominant male.
At times a number of troops associate together at a rich food source in suitable habitat, with colobus reachung their highest densilies in montan forests. Young males leave their natal troop and are mature at four years old. They either become solitary or join up other bachelors, staying on the periphery of the breeding troops until they succeed in displacing a resident male and taking over his harem Colobus spend most of their waking hours foraging among the tree tops or grooming. After leaving the tree in which it slept, a troop often wanders to a suitable site where individuals can sun themselves, advertising their location to other troops in the vicinity, with family members engaging in intense grooming sessions.
The troop then makes its way to the place where 11 will feed for the day, resting and grooming during the hoter hours Later in the aftemoon they feed again before retuming to their sleeping tree colobus are extraordinanly agile, leaping from tree to tree and using there bound of the branch they land on to gain distance for the next jump. They are somewhat clumsy on the ground By the time they are six months old, young colobus can climb and jump proficiently and can feed themselves, though they may continue to suckle for up to a year, sometimes even longer. Colobus spend most of their waking hours foraging among the tree tops or grooming.
Reproduction
Colobus breed all year round with a birth peak during the rains. Newborn young have pink faces and a white Coat, attaining their adult colour at three months. All the troop members seem to enjoy handling and carrying infants, and compete for the chance to hold them. By the time they are six months old young colobus can climb and jump proficiently and can feed themselves, though they may continue to suckle for up to a year, sometimes longer.
Food
Mainly leaves from a limited range of trees; also fruit, lichens, moss, bark seeds, grass, insects and mineralized earth. Their ability to digest more mature and coarser foliage and unripe fruits and seeds from just a few species of trees enables them to live in relatively small ranges in a wide variety of habitats. Colobus can eat a quarter to a third of their body weight per day. They obtain water from hollows in tree trunks and by licking droplets from branches.
Predation
They are preyed on by leopards and large eagles. Male colobus can be very aggressive and will challenge an eagle that tries to snatch a young troop member; they are also more than match for the largest of domestic dogs.
Colobus habitats include primary and secondary forests, riverine forests, and wooded grasslands; they are found more in higher-density logged forests than in other primary forests. Their ruminant-like digestive systems have enabled them to occupy niches that are inaccessible to other primates: they are herbivorous, eating leaves, fruit, flowers, lichen, herbaceous vegetation and bark. Colobuses are important for seed dispersal through their sloppy eating habits, as well as through their digestive systems.
Leaf toughness influences colobus foraging efficiency. Tougher leaves correlate negatively with ingestion rate (g/min) as they are costly in terms of mastication, but positively with investment (chews/g). Individuals spend approximately 150 minutes actively feeding each day. In a montane habitat colobus are known to utilise lichen as a fallback food during periods of low food availability.
Socialism
Many members participate in a greeting ritual when they are reunited with familiar individuals, an act of reaffirming. The greeting behaviour is generally carried out by the approaching monkey and often is followed with grooming. They participate in three greeting behaviours of physical contact. This includes mounting, head mounting (grasps the shoulders) and embracing. It seems as though these behaviours do not have any relationship with mating or courting.
Black-and-white colobus have complex sleeping patterns. They sleep in trees near a food source, which may serve to save energy.
Groups seem to regularly switch up sleeping locations (suggested due to reducing risk of parasites and placement prediction) and generally do not sleep near other groups. They also tend to sleep more tightly together on nights with great visibility.They sleep in mid- to upper sections of tall trees which allows for predator watch as well as protection from ground and aerial predators while they are asleep. Although there is no obvious preference for tree type, they have often been observed in Antiaris toxicaria.
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